How does absolute monarchy work, exactly?
Trump’s thugs are pretending to be outraged that law professor Pamela Karlan said the sacred name of Trump’s youngest child when making a point about what Trump cannot do. She was asked to compare what kings can do and what Trump can do, given constitutional constraints.
Kings could do no wrong because the king’s word was law. Contrary to what President Trump has said, Article Two does not give him the power to do anything he wants. I will give you one example that shows the difference between him and a king, which is, the Constitution says there can be no titles of nobility. While the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.
So, as you see, she wasn’t talking about Barron the person at all, she was talking about the name chosen by his parents in honor of the eponymous financial newspaper as well as the ancient nobility.
Leaving young kids out of it is always the best policy. This might seem benign, but this could lead to teasing from other kids that his parents want him to be a baron, etc. It’s not Barron’s fault that Donald Trump is his father. He might grow up to be a decent human being.
The same point could have been made without mentioning a specific minor child.
Hmm. I was almost buying it for a minute, but then it occurred to me to wonder – which is more likely to lead to teasing from other kids: the fact that his parents named him “Barron” or the fact that someone else mentioned the fact?
You’re probably right about the general policy, but still, it’s his parents (or more likely the orange parent) who set him up for teasing.
And as for those people who named their child North West…
When I saw that, I had a split reaction: on the one hand, I thought, “nice”; on the other, I cringed at the thought of the crocodile tears that were sure to come from the Trumpsters.
As for Barron, living in the DC area you sometimes hear things. From what I understand he’s a shy kid who mostly wants to fit in, though he tends to stand out because he’s tall (not surprising, given his parents) and has the Secret Service following him around everywhere.
On balance it’s generally best not to say anything about the minor kids of a politician, but Professor Kaplan clearly isn’t a polished TV presence (she’s so much better than that) and honestly her mention of his name was innocuous.
Don’t Barron’s friends and classmates already know that his name is Barron? If they were going to make fun of him because of his name, I don’t think they would need the testimony of some professor to give them the idea.
Kaplan’s use of the name “Barron” to make her point is so far down the list of things that Barron Trump is going to get teased for, that it’s not even worth mentioning.
He’s a 13-year-old kid who didn’t pick his parents and didn’t ask for his name. Maybe other kids have already picked up on the meaning of the name and mocked him. Maybe they haven’t. Maybe they’ve made fun of him for far worse. Maybe they haven’t. Why even risk causing unnecessary distress to a 13-year-old?
Pick on his idiot dad, his idiot mom, his idiot half-bothers, and his non-idiot-but-not-anything-special half-sister. But leave him alone. He’s 13.
(And, no, I’m not forgetting Tiffany, but she hasn’t seemed to want any part of this train wreck.)
Karlan has apologized:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/impeachment-hearing-barron-trump-professor-apology_n_5de83c9be4b0d50f32adfc7b
Barron’s non-baronial father has somehow managed to get himself known in press publicity as ‘The Donald’. That presumably distinguishes him from all the other Donalds in the Universe, including Donald Duck.
Probably higher than Sir Donald, Lord Donald or even Prince Donald in Debrett’s. THE (one and only) Donald would have to be.
Must check it out. I hope it is not a breach of the Constitution. Could be grounds for more impeachments.
My biggest beef with that is not so much that Donald is claiming a distinction he doesn’t deserve, but that there is already a “The Don” – Donald Bradman.
As far as I’m concerned, The Donald will always be Professor Knuth.
I think it was Ivana who started calling him that. I don’t know much about Slovakian, but in some dialects it’s common to use the definite article. My mother-in-law (from Northern Spain) does it all the time–La Loli, El Paco, etc.
(Aside: has the preview button disappeared?)
What a Maroon – yes. No preview button. Must be careful with posts. Must have coffee before posting.
Well frotunatly Ive never hadd a ned for the purview buton>
lol